Astra Yao in ZZZ: Squad and Build Guide

Astra Guide in Zenless Zone Zero is designed to fully realize the buffer potential of the legendary Support class representative. In the team, Yao occupies the support position and rarely enters the arena, because her key skills work outside the field. After entering the unique state of "Perfect Candescence", the singer applies positive effects to allies that increase their damage, attack power, and critical damage characteristics.

When building, special attention is paid to pumping ATK, which affects the size of the buff for allies. Based on the fact that "Perfect Candence" requires energy costs for an enhanced special skill, the girl prefers to develop the parameter through passives of equipment elements. When selecting equipment, support sets with third-party buffs for the team come first.

Astra Yao is a flirtatious and dreamy girl with outstanding vocal skills and an attractive appearance. Signs and posters with portraits of the singer can be found all over New Erid, and tickets to her concerts are sold out in a split second. The heroine is convinced that every generation needs its own star that brings hope, so she adheres to a light and melodic style in her music. As a playable character, she has an ethereal attribute and specializes in supporting allies through singing.

How to Get Astra in Zenless Zone Zero

Astra Yao can be obtained from the "Myriad Melodies" event banner in the second phase of update 2.5. A temporary "Signal Search" event is also available, featuring her signature amplifier, "Stylish Thing." Banner dates: January 21 to February 5, 2026.

To stay up to date with Astra's rerun and the release of other limited characters, follow the article with banner schedule.

Stats

Leveling up a heroine is necessary to increase her basic characteristics: attack power, health and defense. The table below shows the values ​​at each stage of the legendary heroine's ascension:

Along with the development of the inclinations, the basic value of ATK and the key characteristic of Yao increases - energy rechargeUnlocking passive skill levels will increase this parameter. from 1,2% to 1,56%.

How the skills work

As a combat unit, the girl is a flexible and undemanding support with a variety of enhancements. In battle, the singer is most often in a state of "Perfect Candence", spreading increases to critical damage, total damage dealt, and ATK to allies. While squad members are actively fighting enemies, the heroine is present in the arena, dealing additional damage and calling for quick help by singing.

The gameplay for the girl is simple, because she is "inactive" for most of the battle. In the singing state, her abilities are realized due to the actions of her allies: using certain skills allows you to launch a quick help and perform a "Tremolo" strike with energy expenditure. It is due to the peculiarity of using skills "from the pocket" that the singer provides two other allies with all the time on the field and is an ideal support.

The order of leveling skills

EX Skill = Prowess > Super Ability >> Basic Attack = Assist = Evasion

As a Support heroine, she needs to prioritize skills that provide buffs to allies:

• the amount of the buff to critical damage and total damage dealt increases through enhanced special skill, and the ATK boost for allies is contained in inclinations;
• the ult, although it does not contain team buffs, restores health and deals massive damage.

The remaining skills can be upgraded as desired - they deal minor damage, are rarely used and do not affect the buffs that are distributed.

How to play as Astra Yao

In ZZZ, Astra acts as a "pocket" support, being in a state "Perfect Candence". You can switch to the stance using a skill, C/A, or ult, after which a quick assist is immediately launched to switch to the next fighter. With enough energy, Yao calls for a quick assist once every three seconds if the active character depletes the enemy's health, or once per second when hit. heavy reception — this type usually includes the last attack in a chain of basic attacks, a skill and an enhanced skill, a dash attack, and so on.

Thus, Ms. Yao's gameplay is based on holding an enhanced skill with enough energy. More nuances arise when thinking through the team rotation, taking into account the singer's skills and her energy reserve. The frequency of character changes will depend on the playstyle of the main damage dealer: in the Abnormal build, heroes change often, while the Assault characters prefer to enter the field after stunning enemies with an agent of Intimidation. Each change consumes 25 units of the singer's energy, which is displayed under the character's portrait as sparkling stars - with a maximum energy reserve of 120 units, quick help can only be launched 4 times.

Taking all factors into account, the general rotation of the heroine and her allies looks like this:

1. Immediately after the battle begins, use the skill to enter Perfect Candence and buff all allies for 20 seconds.
2. Perform a full rotation for the character that entered the field: stun an enemy as an Agent of Intimidation or use all the moves of an Anomaly character.
3. Swap to the next agent via quick assist when the first fighter completes his rotation. For example, when his energy runs out, the duration of internal buffs expires, or the C/A starts, which begins the offensive main-DD Assault.
4.  Plan your character change speed in advance, don't get distracted by the quick help indicator, and keep an eye on the current number of "Chords" under the character's portrait.

While the singer is in "Perfect Candence", she does not participate in helping in defense and evasion. Therefore, switching back to the buffer in the middle of the rotation, for example, to use the super ability, can only be done manually, by moving away from enemies or using all her energy. Also, to exit the stance, you need to hold down the b/a or dash button.

The best eidoses

The mental picture contains the following passive enhancements:

The best consts of Astra Yao are - the first one, the second one и fourth:

• M1 valuable due to the universal buff on resistance penetration by any type of attributes, which in battle conditions increases the DPS of the entire squad quite well. In addition, the ability to avoid one enemy attack appears and at the beginning of the battle to quickly accumulate the singer's ultimate.
• M2 increases the maximum buff volume and simultaneously reduces the requirements for pumping up Yao's attack power, allowing you to focus on other stats.
• M4 completes the circle of buffs with unique effects for representatives of different classes, and also gives the opportunity to call one quick help in conditions of low energy.

F2P players hoping to get a girl with optimal constellations are advised to stop at first or second const.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Having dealt with the basics of gameplay, description of skills and eidoses, we can draw the following conclusions about the "pros and cons" of Mrs. Yao:

Leveling

Resources for the singer correspond to her class and element and for full pumping to the maximum level will be required in the following quantities:

Leveling	Materials	Cost
Level	×4 Entry Level Support Token ×32 Top Level Support Token ×30 Ruler's Token	×800 000
Skills	× 25 Ethereum Base Chip × 75 Advanced Ether Chip × 250 Specialized Ether Chip ×5 Pass to the Hamster Cage	×2 491 000
Makings	×60 High Dimensional Data: Thunder Dragon ×9 The last dance	×405 000

Best Builds for Astra in ZZZ

The famous singer plays a support role in battle and is always present on the field in a state of invulnerability, while the rest of the squad actively fight under all her buffs. The increase in critical damage and total damage do not depend on the value of the heroine's personal characteristics - they are fixed and depend only on the skill level. But the amount of ATK increase through the "In the Rhythm of Andante" deposit is scaled by the value of the buffer herself. Additionally, it is worth considering the singer's dependence on energy, which is spent when using quick help.

Thus, to extract maximum benefit from the supporting mechanics, the Astra assembly is based on pumping up the following characteristics:

• ATK needed in huge quantities for full buff;
• energy recharge will allow you to quickly accumulate resources for launching quick help.

During the battle, the girl activates ethereal skills "from her pocket", so after pumping up priority characteristics, it makes sense to invest in damage through parameters Crit. damage and crit. chance or knowledge anomalies. But health and protection in drive discs should be avoided - the singer rarely fights as an active agent and will not benefit from increased survivability.

Rating of amplifiers

Signature amplifier "Stylish little thing" is the best for her because it helps with the development of the key stat, provides the team with additional buffs, and helps with the energy recovery for the built-in mechanic of changing agents. In its absence, the amplifiers of the class come first Support with energy restoration and team buffs.

Amplifier	The effect
Stylish little thing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Base attack power 48-713 ATK: 12-30%	Whenever any squad member enters the battlefield via Quick Assist, Chain Attack, Defense Assist, or Evasion Assist, the agent with this item gains 5-7 energy. Occurs no more than once every 5 seconds. When an agent with this device spends 25 or more energy, the entire squad deals 10-16% more damage. Lasts 20 seconds, can stack up to 2 times. Repeated casts refresh the duration. The effect is shared across the entire squad.
Cradle of crying ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Basic attack 46-684 Penetration chance: 9,6-24%	A hero with this amplifier restores energy by 0,6-1,2 units/sec faster. When a character hits an enemy, all other party members hit the target. 10-20% more damage for 3 sec. While the effect is active, its value increases by 1,7-3,3% once every 0,5 seconds, and the maximum increase is 10,2-19,8%. Restarting the effect refreshes the duration, but not the damage increase.
treasure chest ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Basic attack 42-624 Energy recharge: 20-50%	When the owner of this item deals Ethereal Damage with their Supported Special Attack, Chain Attack, or Ultimate, all party members hit the target for 15-24% more damage. The energy recovery of an agent with this item increases by 0,5-0,8 units energy/sec. within 2 seconds. Identical passive effects do not stack.
Boom gun ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Basic attack 42-624 Energy recharge: 20-50%	When an ally's attack on a unit hits an enemy, the attack power of the entire unit is increased by 2,5-4%. The effect stacks up to level 4 and lasts 8 seconds.
Shy Monster ( ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Basic attack 42-624 ATK: 10-25%	Increases Ice Damage by 15-24%. When you launch an Empowered Special Attack, all party members' attack power increases by 2-3,2%. The effect stacks up to 4 times and lasts 12 seconds.
Ball for playing without rules ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Basic attack 40-594 Energy recharge: 20-50%	If a character's attack with this weapon triggers a counterattack with the attribute, the crit chance. hits for all squad members increases by 12-20% for 12 seconds.
Frame for memory ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Basic attack 40-594 Penetration chance: 8-20%	Activating a Counter Attack after a Dodge, Supported Special Attack, Attack Assist, or Attack Chain grants additional 20-55 decibels and restores the agent with this item 0,7-1,1 units energy. Fires once every 12 seconds.

What drives to install

The best artifacts are drive discs with buffs for allies, containing an increase in ATK or energy recovery rate.

Drive disks	Effects	Recommendation
Astral voice	2-Piece Bonus: Attack power increases by 10% 4-Piece Bonus: When any squad member enters the battlefield with Quick Aid, the entire squad gains 1 stack of the effect for 15 seconds. Repeated casts refresh the duration. Each stack of the effect increases the damage dealt by the character performing Quick Aid by 8%. Only one stack of the effect can be active at a time.	The best support set, combining an increase to the key stat and a large buff for the team. During the pumping process, the buffer focuses on developing high ATK for the enhancement provided by the inclinations, which half of the set will help with. The full set, in turn, will provide the squad with a damage bonus of up to 24% when performing an optimal rotation. Can be combined with two parts of the attack power set "Hormone Punk" or with a set "Swing Jazz" to restore energy.
Swing jazz	2-Piece Bonus: Energy recovery increases by 20%. 4-Piece Bonus: After activating a chain of attacks or a super ability, all party members deal 15% more damage for 12 sec. Identical passive effects do not stack.	If the squad already has an agent equipped with the "voice", you can give the girl a full set of "Swing Jazz". With it, you can more quickly restore the skill energy for launching quick help, as well as strengthen the squad after performing QTE-techniques. At the same time, the stacks of the "voice" passive will still accumulate, even if the set is not on Astra. To balance the stats, it is recommended to supplement them with half of the ATK set.
Freedom blues	2-Piece Bonus: Increases knowledge of the anomaly by 30. 4-Piece Bonus: When an enemy is hit by an empowered special attack, that enemy's resistance to the wearer's attribute anomaly is reduced by 20% for 8 sec. Effects for one attribute do not stack.	Buffer is good at applying Ethereal attribute anomaly, so a DD set will suit her. It is best to use the equipment in a team specializing in Chaos. As for the passive of the set, it is easily implemented when playing as a singer, since all of her Tremolo and Tonal Cluster attacks are considered an enhanced skill. The assembly must be supplemented with ATK kits.

Recommended Stats

The table below shows the main stats to look for in drive slots:

The final value of each parameter that must be strived for for the full realization of the heroine in the position of a supporting agent:

• ATK: 3400 units and above - for full buff through the main passive skill, 2900 units - if M2 is open;
• HP: 10+;
• Crete. chance and damage: in a ratio of 1 to 2, where for every 100% critical damage there is at least a 50% chance (optional);
• knowledge of anomaly: from 200 points (optional).

Which banbu is suitable?

An excellent choice as a banbu for Astra would be Nutcracker — faction S-rank banbu with team boost and additional ether damage. Even in the absence of a second agent from the Lyra Constellation faction, the baby is able to provide support for the main DD due to the damage bonus. As an alternative, it is worth considering robot hares aimed at supporting teams with one element, for example, Evelyn With Inferno Metal drive discs, a fire type banbu would be more suitable.

Banbu	Skills
Nutcracker	Every 22 seconds, Banbu gains 3 Camera Rolls. If Clicker has Camera Rolls and an agent launches a Dodge Counter, Quick Assist, or Extra Attack Assist, Clicker will consume 1 Camera Roll to take a photo and apply a damage-boosting buff to the agent for 10 seconds. If the squad has 2 or more agents from the Lyra Constellation: When Clicker places a buff on an agent, the agent is immediately restored to 4% health. Flashes a powerful light into the enemy's eyes, dealing Ethereal damage and causing a powerful accumulation of Ethereal Attribute Anomaly.
Agent Gulliver	Fires 3 penetrating shots, dealing electrical damage and accumulating attribute anomaly. If there are at least in the detachment 2 agents from Section 6: Banbu's skill or attack chain hits an enemy with Shock, damage increases by 30%. If the attack hits an enemy without Shock, it accumulates 60% more Electric Anomaly. Fires a single powerful penetrating shot, dealing Electric damage and causing massive Anomaly buildup.
Rocketaboo	Fires a rocket at enemies that explodes when it hits the target. Creatures in the affected area receive fire damage and also accumulate a large amount of fire anomaly. When the squad has at least 2 fire attribute agents, increases the accumulation of fire anomaly during a chain of banbu attacks. Fires a rocket at enemies that explodes when it hits the target. Creatures in a wide area of ​​effect receive fire damage and also accumulate a huge amount of fire anomaly.
Stekerbu	Banbu attacks the enemy with an electromagnetic cannon, causing electrical damage and accumulating an anomaly of the corresponding attribute. If the team has at least 2 heroes with the Electro type, then attribute anomalies will accumulate 100% faster during Banbu's chain of attacks. Banbu unleashes powerful attacks in a large radius around himself, dealing electrical damage and greatly increasing his electrical attribute accumulation.
Rezonabu	Summons a black hole that continuously attracts enemies. Enemies hit by the ability take ethereal damage and accumulate an attribute anomaly. When the squad has at least 2 Ethereal Attribute Agents, increases the accumulation of anomaly during a chain of Banbu attacks. Throws a grenade at enemies, dealing ethereal damage and causing a powerful attribute anomaly to accumulate.

Astra Yao Squad Guide

The singer is a support character whose abilities work "out of pocket". After entering the state of "Perfect Candence", the girl remains on the field to inspire allies with singing and thus launch a quick help, spread buffs and inflict additional damage. She does all this while being an "inactive" agent in a state of invulnerability, so all the time in the arena is given to two other fighters.

To activate the additional passive skill, the girl's team must include agents with a specialization Anomaly or Attack, which are usually the core of the team. Accordingly, the singer is perfect for the role of a buffer in any group with a classic or abnormal main-dd without exception.

Best allies

Astra is a unique, versatile agent. She will buff both the main damage dealer and the support damage dealer, while also restoring their health and simplifying their rotations.

Thanks to her ATK and crit buffs, Astra is a great addition to any Offense team.

Anton (Electro)	Corinne (Phys.)	Billy (Phys.)	Necomia (Phys.)
Soldier 11 (Fire)	Ellen (Ice)	Zhu Yuan (Ether)	Harumasa (Electro)
Evelyn (Fire)	Soldier 0 (Electro)	Hugo (Ice)	Sid (Electro)
Orpheus (Fire)	Ye Shunguang (Spearhead)	Cissia (Electro)	Pyrois (Ether)
Sigrid (Ice)	Severian (Wind)

She also performs well against the main damage dealer, Destruction, as she is able to heal with her ult.

Yixuan (Ether)	Manato (Fire)	Yidhari (Ice)	Banyue (Fire)
Sound Billy (Phys.)

Even the Anomaly can benefit from the singer's buffs.

It is important to note that Astra will not be able to fully replace Ukinami Yuzuhu, which is a priority support for anomalists due to a more impressive list of buffs suitable for them.

Piper (Phys.)	Grace (Electro)	Jane (Phys.)	Bernice (Fire)
Yanagi (Electro)	Miyabi (Frost)	Vivian (Ether)	Alice (Phys.)
Promea (Ice)	Phoenix (Fire)

Astra simplifies switching between DD and SAP-DD of the Intimidation class.

Kolyada (Fire)	Lycaon (Ice)	Qingyi (Electro)	Lightyear (Fire)
Pulchra (Phys.)	Trigger (Electro)	Ju Fufu (Fire)	Dialing (Phys.)
Norma (Fire)	Roxy (Wind)

The singer can be placed with another Support to increase the buffs for the main damage dealer.

Nicole (Ether)	Lucy (Fire)	Sokaku (Ice)	Rina (Electro)
Yuzuha (Phys.)	Lucia (Ether)	Sanna (Phys.)

Or use it in conjunction with the Defense Agent to maximize the squad's survivability.

Ben (Fire)

Caesar (Phys.)

Pan Yinhu (Phys.)

Zhao (Ice)

Best team samples

The table below shows the best units for Astra Yao, taking into account her unique mechanics and the needs of the main DDs:

Character 1	Character 2	Character 3	Banbu	Features
Severian	Roxy	Aster	Nutcracker	Severian acts as the primary damage dealer, dealing damage with his charged attack during Roxy's stun window under the singer's buffs. Clicker also increases damage output.
Fenix	PromeaAliceJane	Aster	Birkblick Rocketaboo	Phoenix shares the active slot with another "selfish" damage dealer, and Astra helps by frequently swapping agents. Birkblick is the best support for this combination—he's very good at stacking stuns.
SigridPirois	DialingNormal value Roxy	Aster	Nutcracker	A team to buff Pyrois or Sigrid. Dialine will help activate her ultimate more often, Roxy will pull enemies in, and Norma and Astra will allow her to constantly chain attacks.
Miyabi	Yanagi Yuzuha	Aster	Gulliver	Miyabi and Yanagi complement each other perfectly due to the compatibility of their personal mechanics: Miyabi increases the efficiency of attribute accumulation for her partner, and Yanagi helps her with the accumulation of "Rim" stacks. The combination is distinguished by huge destructive damage, which will be further increased by buffs. With the singer, switching characters will become much more comfortable. With Yuzuha, it will be possible to form a hyper-carry group.
Evelyn Soldier 0	Lightyear Pulchra Trigger	Aster	Nutcracker	Eveline and Soldier 0 are not very tied to rotation and timing, so they become excellent options for implementing all the mechanics of the singer. Eveline is assisted in this by Lightyear with an explosive combination of basic attacks, which also applies buffs for fire damage. To support Soldier 0, you can use Pulchra or Trigger, which carry out quick attacks on enemies from the "pocket".
Aster	YixuanStar Billy	Pan Yinhu Ju Fufu	Lioness	A group with a damage dealer who has through-hits. You can create a squad with both a hyper-carry with the support of two buffers, and with a sub-DD Ju Fufu, who provides a bonus increase in critical damage. When equipping Pan Yinhu, it is recommended to put "Proto-punk" drive discs or another buffer set on the bear, provided that the singer has "Astral Voice" artifacts.
Ellen Hugo Soldier 11	Lycaon Kolyada Lightyear	Aster	Akulabu Rocketaboo	An example of a build with Ice and Fire-type Attack and Intimidation agents. Ellen and Hugo have explosive damage and fast rotation, and Soldier 11 deals attribute damage after an enhanced special skill or through leisurely strikes in timing. The characters' passives depend on the presence of agents with a similar damage type in the team, and their class is conducive to active offensive after the central attack. Therefore, the ice Lycaon or fire Kolyada are recommended for the second slot.
Zhu Yuan Harumasa	Qingyi Enby	Aster	Officer Cui Rezonabu Stekerbu	In the case of long-rotation-dependent Zhu Yuan and Harumasa, the overwhelming majority of the time on the field is given to the Intimidation Agent. It is recommended to give this role to Qingyi, who will not only stun the enemy with comfortable conditions for attack, but also increase his vulnerability multiplier. The first in the chain is the DD, followed by the buffer, after which the chain is canceled, and the damager enters the field via quick help and begins to spend "ether buckshot" or absorb "targets".
Cissia	Trigger	Astra Yao	StekerbuElektrobu	An example of an electro squad, where Cissy takes on the role of the main damage dealer. Sniper helps stun enemies, and Singer significantly increases critical damage and ATK for both.
Sid	Cissia	Astra Yao	StekerbuElektrobu	Another squad with representatives of the electro attribute, which is aimed at maximizing the strengthening of Sid.
Yanagi Jane	Bernice Vivian	Aster	Knighthood	An example of a singer-supported abnormal squad with a pocket DD. By spending energy, Bernice and Vivian apply statuses to enemies that deal damage and accumulate attributes while she is off the field. Buffer goes into "Perfect Candence" and spreads ATK increase, crit damage, and overall damage bonus to allies. Jane or Yanagi enter the arena using Quick Aid and use all buffs for 20 seconds.
Grace	Aster	Anton Rina	Stekerbu Elektrobu	The singer can support a mono-electric squad with standard legendaries and an epic Anton. Yao's buffs are universal for allies, so they will come in handy for the Abnormal fighter Grace. Immediately after the Shock application, Anton replaces her through quick help and deals increased damage due to increased crits and ATK. If you want to concentrate the squad around Gray, you can put Rina instead of Anton.
Piper	Lucy	Aster	Moccus	A budget build with epic characters from the "Sons of Calydon". Piper is the backbone of the team, draining the health of opponents with a powerful physical effect, Onslaught. Lucy supports the girls with additional buffs, and when building for damage, fights on par with Piper.
Corinne Billy	Enby	Aster	Amillion Packer	F2P build for beginners from free characters. Having got the singer on the account, you can create a starting squad for her from a physical damage dealer of the Attack and the Intimidation that helps him. By analogy with premium builds, the key role is given to Enby - to stun the enemy. After starting the chain, the damage dealer can go on the offensive with the support of Mrs. Yao.

Is The Character Worth Pulling?

Astra is an extremely flexible character with a lot of useful mechanics, from various buffs to healing. The support heroine gives the entire team additional ATK, critical damage and a bonus to DPS throughout the battle, while almost never entering the field as an active character. In addition to everything, the singer allows squad members to effectively replace each other through quick help, and after the ultimate gives the opportunity to perform two C/A outside the "stun window".

Answering the question of whether it is worth knocking out Mrs. Yao, it should be noted separately that the legendary buffer not only fits well into existing builds, but is also a promising support for future damage dealers of Attack, Anomaly and Destruction. In addition to everything, it is relatively easy to pick up equipment for the heroine, including to replace signature weapons, and constellations do not significantly change the gameplay and are not strictly mandatory.

Trailers

Astra's music video "Dreams of Paradise":

YouTube VK.Video

Character Demonstration "Reed's Feast":

YouTube VK.Video

"A Night Full of Stars" Teaser:

YouTube VK.Video

We hope this guide helped you put together the best build for Astra in Zenles Zone Zero. If you have any questions about how agent skills work and builds, be sure to leave a comment. comments, so that the author or other players can help. In the special section of our site, see builds for all characters.